By Jonathan Nehring | Disclaimer

While this is not the last of this series' articles, it is the “least” of these articles. The American Conference may have happened upon becoming a power conference if college athletes are to be paid for their services. 

First, the American Conference will become the highest net income earners among college athletes as the athletes from the AAC’s average football and basketball program will earn, respectively, 32% and 38% more than the next closest NCAA conference will be able to pay their athletes. Second, half of the American Conference’s teams will fill a roster with football players who will not owe over $111 and basketball players not owing over $401 in state income taxes. In fact, 4 AAC football programs and 5 AAC basketball programs rank within the Top 10 lowest state income tax bills among all NCAA programs! This could entice other schools to join the AAC as the majority of their schedule would then be in tax friendly areas, thus helping the new school lower their own tax bill.

Taking a look at the teams inside the new “wonder conference”, the conference is split down the middle for “haves” and “have nots”. The football programs for the “haves” – teams residing in states without income taxes – would owe an average of $62 in annual state income tax while the “have nots” would owe an average of $8,403. 

Dividing the basketball program into the same dividing line, the “haves” would make $19,451 more annually than their “have nots” would. 

Interestingly from a tax perspective, the AAC Conference Tournament will move in 2015 from the FedEx Forum in Memphis to the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. This change will subject basketball players to a week of the highest tax rates possible for AAC teams instead of a state without an income tax. 

This large gap in earnings may be well needed relief for the AAC’s smaller basketball programs such as Larry Brown’s Mustangs, as they currently have to recruit against both the 2013 and 2014 NCAA Tournament Champions – the Louisville Cardinals and Connecticut Huskies. While UConn and Louisville currently dominate the AAC on the court, the “haves” could now offer potential AAC athletes $23,525 more than either of those programs could offer their basketball prospects. 

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By Jonathan Nehring | Disclaimer

The ACC could be titled as the “average conference” when looking at the conference’s average state income tax bills. 

The ACC’s football ($8,252) and basketball ($17,872) athletes would, on average, owe nearly identical what the average NCAA football ($7,333) or basketball ($17,339) athlete would owe in state income taxes.

The ACC could also be qualified as “average” within the league as 9 of the conferences team’s state tax bills vary by only 14% from the largest to the smallest of those 9 teams. Of the 5 football teams that do not belong in that “average” window, 2 of those teams – the Florida schools – boast Top 20 lowest state income tax bills for both their basketball and football athletes. 

This is not likely to be welcoming news to the ACC football foes as they must now recruit against not only Florida State’s 2014 BCS Championship Title but also against the fact that FSU can pay Jameis Winston and Co. thousands more in net annual income. 

While Florida State is the current leader in the ACC football world, paying college athletes may help FSU or Miami also take ACC basketball domination away from the North Carolina powerful trio of North Carolina, Wake Forest, and Duke. For the past 25 years, North Carolina, Wake Forest, or Duke have won 80% of the ACC basketball titles but with FSU or “the U” now able to offer their basketball athletes $20,000 more annually than the Carolina schools can, the ACC basketball dominant powers may soon be shifting. 

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By Jonathan Nehring | Disclaimer

Taking our second stop in the the Midwest for the day, we now turn to the Big 12. 

While the Big 12 suffered in the past two waves of conference realignment, they may now become a destination conference if college athletes are paid for their services. Aside from the American Conference, the Big 12 conference averages the lowest state income tax bill among NCAA conferences. Big 12 football and basketball players would owe 26% and 32% less, respectively in state income taxes than the average NCAA football or basketball player would owe. 

Although the Big 12 may enjoy the upper hand against other conference’s tax bills, competition for recruits within the conference will likely be fierce. 

Big 12 football has the second largest tax bill variance among their conference teams in comparison to all other NCAA conferences. This large variance is evidenced by the grouping of teams in the graphic above. Texas, which has no state income tax, hosts nearly half of the Big 12 football programs and makes out the lowest “group” of the Big 12 with an average tax bill of $85. The “middle class” of the Big 12 combines the Oklahoma and Kansas programs to bring about an average tax bill of $8,403. However, on the other end of the spectrum, Iowa State’s football players will be responsible for the 4th highest state income tax bill for the entire NCAA.

Big 12 basketball fans, especially in Texas, may find pleasure in the possibility that state income taxes will provide some teams a competitive edge over Kansas – the holder of 10 straight regular season conference titles. (Disclaimer: The writer of this post attended KU during 7 of those 10 years.) The Texas schools will be able to offer $16,809 more annually to their basketball stars than KU. For the author’s sanity sake, let’s hope the lure of passing UCLA’s record of 13 straight conference titles is worth more than $16,809.

Of all the programs within the Big 12, Iowa State would suffer the greatest blow from paying college athletes. Having never won the Big 12 football championship and last winning the Big 12 basketball regular season title in 2001, they would now also be forced to offer their athletes some of the lowest net income offers among the NCAA. 

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By Jonathan Nehring | Disclaimer

As wetour the NCAA to look at the large role state income taxes could now play in the NCAA recruiting process, we stop today in the Midwest. First the Big Ten and later today the Big 12. 

The Big Ten has the smallest variance between the highest taxed school and the lowest taxed school within their conference. This could mean the Big Ten, unlike the SEC or PAC-12, would become the most “competitively balanced” conference should NCAA athletes be paid.

Although the Big Ten may benefit from little variation among teams within their conference, they will face stiff competition from teams outside their conference – only teams in the Big East or PAC-12 will average higher state income taxes than the Big Ten.

The biggest contributor to the Big Ten high average tax rates results from the high taxes of both Minnesota and Iowa – home to the Big Ten’s Gophers and Hawkeyes. Minnesota Gophers’ football players will bear the 9th highest tax rate among NCAA football programs while their basketball players will owe the 12th most of any basketball program.

Aside from the Oregon and California schools, the Gophers only trail their Iowa conference mates in state income tax burdens. Speaking of the Hawkeyes, while their basketball players will owe the 10th highest taxes, their football program will face even tougher upcoming challenges in recruiting. At the estimated football income rate, the 11-time Big Ten Champions will owe the 3rd most in state income taxes.

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By Jonathan Nehring | Disclaimer

As we continue to look at the effect that state income taxes would have should college athletes be paid, we now turn our attention to the league who may want to oppose paying players the most – the PAC 12.

If college athletes are to get paid, the PAC 12 would suffer the greatest set back as their average basketball player will make $5,917 less than the average NCAA basketball player and the PAC 12’s average football player would make $2,549 less than the average NCAA football player.

The biggest detriment to the PAC 12 is the fact that half of their schools reside in either Oregon or California – two states with some of the highest state income tax rates in the country. A football player for a team in either of these states would owe an average of $14,617 and a basketball player an average of $34,840. 

This is double what the average NCAA football or basketball player would owe.

Both Washington and WSU should send their legislature a big thank you note as their state’s lack of an income tax will cause those two teams to owe an average of $184 in state income taxes for football players and $964 for basketball players. Those two schools who have previously lost many battles against fellow PAC 12 powerhouses now can offer their football players $14,433 more than the flashy jerseys at Oregon once could and $33,876 more than the PAC 12’s California teams can. That’s a difference in salary nearly the size of an entire median income level in the US. 

With this large difference in salaries among PAC 12 schools, paying college athletes could cause a more dramatic shift in PAC 12 programs than the impact we noted yesterday among the SEC dominant powers. 

The PAC 12 not only holds the title for highest state taxes owed in both football and basketball but also holds the title for the most dramatic variation in state tax bills among their own programs. 

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